The changing face of ‘Drivers of Change’

In 2001 the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) launched a new way of conducting political economy analysis, called ‘Drivers of Change’ (DoC). DoC is now well known amongst international development practitioners and professionals. This article provides an introduction to DoC, explaining what it is, where DoC analysis has taken place and which organisations have been involved. It also explores the history and background to DoC, outlines its effect on other bi and multi‐lateral donors and shows how the approach has evolved over the last 5 years. The final section of the article analyses some of the current limitations in the way DoC analysis is used by DFID and predicts how the approach may develop in the future. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Complexity and hybrid effects in the delivery and evaluation of youth programmes in a remote Indigenous community

Indigenous Australians continue to experience entrenched disadvantage. Despite billions being spent, ‘Closing the Gap’ indicators remain resistant to change. It has become increasingly apparent that progress has been hindered by persistent administration and implementation issues in Indigenous Affairs, especially with the funding modalities deployed. This study uses the remote Queensland Indigenous community of Aurukun as a case study to examine the effectiveness and evaluation problems arising from overlapping programmes delivered to Aurukun children and youth (5–18 years of age). It documents programmatic crowding occurring in Aurukun, which has the potential to place considerable demands on the intended participants, and results in hybridised effects that are not understood. Within this context, robust evaluation – even through the use of sophisticated methods – is near impossible.     

Partner Violence Entrapment Scale: Development and Psychometric Testing

This article describes the development and testing of the psychometric properties of the Partner Violence Entrapment Scale (PVES), an instrument that evaluates the women’s perceived reasons for staying in violent partner relationships. After initial pilot testing, the scale was administered to 213 Spanish women who were victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). An exploratory factor analysis identified six factors: Socio-Economic Problems, Attachment and Fear of Loneliness, Blaming Oneself and Resignation, Impact on Children, Fear of Harm and Worry for the Partner, and Feelings of Confusion. Discriminant validity was established by demonstrating associations between PVES factors and socio-demographic, clinical and abuse variables. The scale appears to be a useful assessment tool for social and clinical settings. Its factor structure, reliability, and validity need to be replicated in other populations and samples.     

Left-Authoritarians and Policy Representation in Western Europe: Electoral Choice across Ideological Dimensions

Citizens can face a difficult electoral decision when no party even broadly represents their views. In Western Europe, this applies to those citizens with left-wing preferences on economic issues and traditional/authoritarian preferences on socio-cultural issues. There are many voters with such ‘left-authoritarian’ views, but few parties. Hence, the former often have to choose between parties that only match their views on one of these two ideological dimensions. This study shows that whether these citizens privilege economic or socio-cultural congruence in their electoral preferences depends on the issues they are concerned about. In general, it is found that left-authoritarians privilege economic concerns and therefore prefer parties that are left-liberal. These findings have implications for our general understanding of electoral choice and of changing patterns of political competition in Western Europe.     

An Indepth Actuarial Assessment for Wife Assault Recidivism: The <Emphasis Type="Italic">Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide</Emphasis>

An actuarial tool, the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA), predicts recidivism using only variables readily obtained by frontline police officers. Correctional settings permit more comprehensive assessments. In a subset of ODARA construction and cross-validation cases, 303 men with a police record for wife assault and a correctional system file, the VRAG, SARA, Danger Assessment, and DVSI also predicted recidivism, but the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) best improved prediction of recidivism, occurrence, frequency, severity, injury, and charges. In 346 new cases, ODARA and PCL-R independently predicted recidivism. An algorithm was derived for a combined instrument, the Domestic Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (DVRAG), and an experience table is presented (N=649). Results indicated the importance of antisociality in wife assault.     

A history of the use of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system: contradictions,collisions and their consequences

ABSTRACT

This paper presents insights into the history and current deployment of the concept of parental alienation in the Australian family law system. It begins in 1989, when an article on parental alienation syndrome was first published in an Australian law journal. It then traces aspects of the socio-legal and social science research, gender politics, law reform and jurisprudence of the following 30 years, paying attention to moments of significant change. The impacts of major amendments that emphasise the desirability of post-separation shared parenting outcomes in 1996 and 2006 are specifically considered. More recently, in 2012, reforms intended to improve the family law system’s response to domestic and family violence were introduced. The history reveals an irreconcilable tension between the ‘benefit’ of ‘meaningful’ post-separation parent-child relationships and the protection of children from harm. When mothers’ allegations of violence in the family are disbelieved, minimised or dismissed, they are transformed from victims of abuse into perpetrators of abuse – alienators of children from their fathers. Their actions and attitudes collide with the shared parenting philosophy. This is arguably an inescapable consequence of a family law system that struggles to deal effectively with family violence in the context of a strong shared parenting regime.     

The global political economy of climate change,agriculture and food systems

The food and agriculture sector is both a major contributor to climate change and especially vulnerable to its worst impacts. This means that much is at stake in what is a complex set of contested political dynamics as new governance agendas are rolled out. On one hand, there is a strong push for ‘climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA) and related initiatives in the area of marine resources such as the idea of the blue economy, as an attempt to bring a range of viewpoints together to address the interrelationship between these ecological and economic systems. On the other hand, critics see these strategies as promotion of more of the same kinds of policies that created stress in the climate–food system in the first place. To unpack these issues, this special forum brings together a collection of papers that highlight three overlapping themes that lie at the centre of these debates, yet which have not been fully acknowledged by those implementing CSA initiatives: the role of power and interests in shaping governance approaches to climate and food systems; the ways in which existing approaches, primarily those promoting open markets and technology, are reinforced in governance initiatives; and the sidelining of questions of inequality.     

Investigation of sudden infant deaths in the State of Maryland (1990-2000)

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has recorded a significant decline in the deaths of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the state of Maryland since 1994. However, infants who died of accidental or non-accidental injuries remained consistent during the same time period. This report focuses on the epidemiological characteristics and scene investigation findings of infant victims who died suddenly and unexpectedly in Maryland between 1990 and 2000. A retrospective study of OCME cases between 1990 and 2000 yielded a total of 1619 infant fatalities. 802 infant deaths were determined to be SIDS, which represented 50% of the total infant deaths in our study population. Five hundred and twenty-three (31.8%) deaths were due to natural diseases, 128 (7.9%) deaths were accidents, and 74 (4.6%) were homicides. The manner of death could not be determined after a thorough scene investigation, review of history and a complete postmortem examination in 92 (5.7%) infants. SIDS deaths most often involved infants who were male and black. The peak incidence of SIDS was between 2 and 4 months of age. The majority of SIDS infants (60%) were found unresponsive on their stomach. Among SIDS infants, 269 (33.4%) were found in bed with another person or persons (bed sharing). Of the bed-sharing SIDS cases, 182 (68%) were African-American. In the past 11 years, 52 infants died of asphyxia due to unsafe sleeping environment, such as defective cribs, ill-fitting mattresses, inappropriate bedding materials. Of the 74 homicide victims, 53 (70%) involved infants less than 6 months of age. Twenty (27%) exhibited the classical abuse syndrome characterized by repeated acts of trauma to the infants.